Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I was on my way to Florida when I learned that my Aunt Ingela* passed away from Leukemia. After retiring from the corporate world, Ingela pursued her passion and founded Rawhide Rescue - a non-profit which finds homes for dogs in need. There's a nice video online which shows Ingela doing what she loved so much -- helping dogs. And I think it's a really sweet tribute to Ingela herself.

* Technically Ingela wasn't my aunt. She was the wife of my mom's cousin, Alan. However, Alan was like a little brother to my mother and lived for many years with my mom's family. Besides, I grew up feeling as if Ingela was my aunt. She had an warm smile and a way of making everyone feel like family.

Friday, November 07, 2008

I have 216 friends. On facebook, that is. In real life...hmm, well, I'm kinda scratching my head and wondering where all my real-life flesh-and-blood friends went. Lately, I can barely get people to respond to e-mail. Everybody's BUSY with their families, their jobs, their busy, complicated, over-extended lives. Everyone's apologizing for why they can't get together and making promises about future engagements we MUST plan -- and secretly know we never will.

Part of the problem is that many of my friends (high school and college chums) just don't live nearby. So it takes time and monumental effort to synchronize our various schedules. Another problem is that so many of us work from home or are home caring for young children. How do we make friends when we often find ourselves isolated and alone? Besides which, you have to work at friendships in order to maintain them, and most of us are already stretched thin. It's almost as if we've become a nation too busy for deep, meaningful, close friendships. And I have a feeling that's why a lot of us are looking for the virtual thing online. If only we'd put down our iPhones and Blackberries long enough, we might realize that there are fascinating people to converse with right across the table from us.

I've been thinking about friendship a lot lately, thanks not only to facebook, but to the documentary film I worked on for three years as an Associate Producer. The BlueBelles is an amazing group of women who met at the YMCA 20 years ago and have been able to forge a deep, and long-lasting friendship. What's their secret? It's simple. They make time for one another. Plus, every Friday they meet for breakfast at a local bagel shop so their members always know where and when to find one another.